Vashon High School hosted the first cross country meet of the school year on Thursday, Sept. 16, welcoming Cascade Christian and Life Christian high schools.

Right on cue, the skies opened up and welcomed the season in true cross country fashion, forcing the runners to  race through slippery mud trails on their way around the 3.1-mile course at the high school.

The VHS cross country team has a strong membership this year, with 13 high school boys, eight high school girls and two middle school boys rounding out the roster.

While the runners looked strong in practice, the proof was in the pudding on Thursday when the girls team took first, second and fourth places, and the boys team logged an impressive 17 points with first-, second-, third-, fourth- and seventh-place finishes.

Savannah Krug was Vashon’s first girl finisher, as well as first in the overall race, with a time of 22:27. Junior Tylor Heit handily won the boys’ race with a time of 18:08.

A middle school race with a distance of 1.8 miles was also held, containing 13 middle school runners. Nathan Williams of Vashon finished a close second to Andrew Bone of Life Christian.

Saturday, together with 47 other high schools, the teams headed to Fort Steilacoom for a meet. The Vashon teams ran well under a beautiful blue sky in the company of 800 fellow high school athletes from the Northwest.

The cross country teams are looking forward to a winning season and encourage all who are interested in the sport to come to the high school on Oct. 7, when Vashon will host another home meet at 4 p.m., beginning near the football field.

— Laura Johnson is the girls cross country coach.